How to fish like you know what you're doing.

Campbell River Travel Blog

Today, my brother and mom would be leaving to head back to Vancouver, while I would spend the week with my aunt. But before they left, my brother and I tried out some fishing off the pier. Now neither of us were expert fisherman... frankly, we had no idea what we were doing. Before we left, my brother scoured the internet looking for tips. My aunt had bought 2 fishing rods at a garage sale, so we picked them up and headed down to the pier - conveniently only a short walk from my aunt's house.

We walked by the fish and chips place that's on the pier and took a look at the board that lists all the fish that have been caught from there recently. Ah, a 40 pounder was caught the day before yesterday.

Perfect, today's the day.

You're technically supposed to get a fishing license for about $2, but it wasn't very busy and we were pretty sure we weren't going to catch a thing. We put down our tacklebox and claimed our spot on the pier. There were a few other people fishing and we stared intently, trying to pick up as much as we could of their technique. In our observations, we learned a few things:

2. Never look at your own fishing rod. The key to appearing to know what you're doing is while you're casting your line and fishing, don't look. Casually pull back your line at an angle while mindlessly looking from side to side at your fellow fishers.

he caught some seaweed and was very happy about it

Stare anywhere you want... just don't stare at your line.

3. It's all about stamina. The most seasoned fishermen will be there for hours - before, during and after the tide comes in and goes out. Patience is key. The goal is to outlast your neighbour.

Now back to the fishing... my brother was reeling his line in when he looked over the edge of the pier at his hook. "I've got something!" he says, with more surprise than excitement. He continues to reel in his line and caught on his hook is a small fish about the length of a hand. Now we were using big lures and hooks - big enough for salmon... and this was a small fish. The fish more likely thought that the lure was a friend, then was unexpectedly impaled when my brother reeled the hook in. There it was hanging on the line - a small fish wriggling away, with a hook right through it's body.

The first catch of the day. We pushed the small fish off the hook and it plopped back into the water. We figured it probably would have been smarter to keep fishing with it on the hook to try and get some real salmon! We packed it in soon after, and as we left, we stared longingly at the board that mentioned that 40 pound salmon caught the day before yesterday.